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31 December 2018 Second-Best Is Better Than Nothing: Cockroaches as a Viable Food Source for the Kissing Bug Triatoma recurva (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)
Justin O. Schmidt, Patricia L. Dorn, Stephen A. Klotz
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Abstract

Kissing bugs in the genus Triatoma are obligate blood feeders that feed mainly on vertebrate blood and have lost the predatory lifestyle found in other reduviid bugs. They occasionally also feed on the hemolymph of arthropods, especially during the first and second instar stages. The largest kissing bug species in the United States, Triatoma recurva (Stål) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), is poorly known and was chosen to investigate its ability to feed and develop on a diet of cockroach hemolymph. Molting from first instar individuals to second instars readily occurred at approximately the same rate reported for the species feeding on mammalian blood. Subsequent instars also fed on and survived on cockroach hemolymph with some individuals maturing to adults. In the larger instars, development time and survival rates were reduced relative to the results reported in the literature for mammalian-blood-fed individuals. Two other species of kissing bugs, Triatoma protracta (Uhler) and T. rubida (Uhler) failed to survive on cockroach hemolymph with most individuals failing to molt from the first instar stage. Although T. recurva does not thrive on a diet limited to hemolymph of cockroaches, it appears to be an unusual species in which cockroaches might be a primary source of nutrition for smaller individuals and are a viable exclusive source of nutrition for all immatures. At a minimum during times of limited availability of vertebrate blood sources, the presence of cockroaches enhances survival opportunities. Efforts to control populations of this kissing bug species likely will be improved with additional control of cockroach populations in the environment.

© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Justin O. Schmidt, Patricia L. Dorn, and Stephen A. Klotz "Second-Best Is Better Than Nothing: Cockroaches as a Viable Food Source for the Kissing Bug Triatoma recurva (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)," Journal of Medical Entomology 56(3), 651-655, (31 December 2018). https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjy233
Received: 27 September 2018; Accepted: 10 November 2018; Published: 31 December 2018
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KEYWORDS
Chagas disease
Triatoma protracta
Triatoma rubida
Triatominae
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